A strong set of A-level results should raise confidence in Britain’s future. These are difficult exams, and schools and colleges across England, Wales and Northern Ireland are rightly proud of their achievements. Top grades are up, especially in maths, which remains the most popular subject. A total of 262,820 18-year-olds have gained a place at university or college – 3% more than last year.
But the headline success masks some troubling trends. The humanities made up only a quarter of entries, while subject choices are becoming more specialised. Huge gender gaps are also striking: girls made up 79% of English A-level entries but just 19% in computing. In T-levels there has been an improvement, although their newness makes this year’s results harder to assess or compare. But the dropout rate remains higher than in the qualifications that T-levels are supposed to replace, while take-up remains low. Five years in, such ongoing issues cannot be dismissed as teething troubles.
